


From Time

by yormgen



Series: Growing Pains [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Ann-Centric, Belonging, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 05:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11178246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yormgen/pseuds/yormgen
Summary: "Hebleached his hairfor you?" Shiho pressed her hand to her cheek, looking at Ann dreamily. "I wish I'd thought of that."





	From Time

Ann had spent a lot of time feeling lonely in Japan. 

It went back to middle school. She could remember a group of boys the grade above harassing her, tugging fistfuls of her ponytails and making crude comments on the color, or her eyes, or the differences in her complexion. She remembers hearing a shout before they dispersed, and a boy in her class that she barely knew, Ryuji Sakamoto, kneeling beside her, where she'd been shoved to the ground.

Ann also remembers when Ryuji had shown up with his hair freshly bleached for the first time. In his bright blonde wake, he had caught up with her after class, ignoring her confused stare. Catching the stares of the boys who'd taken to waiting for Ann, Ryuji bared his teeth. "What, wanna pull my hair too? Try me, dipshits!"

Ryuji didn't walk with her for long after the confrontation, but the boys never did bother Ann again.

 

Shiho had been all over the place with her reaction to it. Initially, she focused on scolding Ann for not telling her she was being teased, which mostly made Ann stifle a laugh, picturing Shiho in her 155cm glory hissing and chasing off a gang of rude little boys. Not that Ann put it past her.

Quickly enough, Shiho refocused onto Ryuji. "He  _bleached his hair_  for you?" Shiho pressed her hand to her cheek, looking at Ann dreamily. "I wish I'd thought of that."

"No!" Ann sputtered. Shiho had just gotten into the middle school girls volleyball team and definitely wasn't allowed to make any drastic statements like that. Ann didn't want to think about the trouble Ryuji had to be in. "Besides it's not as if he did it, like...  _for me_!"

Shiho gave her an unimpressed look that made Ann squirm.

"I'm serious!" Ann insisted, working herself up, even though Shiho still hadn't said anything. "Why would he? Are you trying to say he has a thing for me?!"

Shiho looked thoughtful. "I don't really know. Maybe he just doesn't like bullies."

Ann didn't have an argument for that.

 

Ann had caught Shiho speaking with Ryuji during lunch a week after. Ann couldn't hear their conversation, but Ryuji looked scandalized by whatever Shiho was saying, eyes wide, eyebrows knit tight, flushed with frustration. Ann was almost worried he'd raise his voice at her, over whatever they were disagreeing on, but when Shiho giggled at him he just put his head down and rubbed his neck before running off.

"What on earth was that about?" Ann asked, as if she couldn't guess.

Shiho smiled at her warmly before breaking into a grin. "I was thanking him for watching over you for me."

"Shiho, you  _didn't_ \--"

"I also told him that I like his hair like that," Shiho continued, clearly proud of herself. "I always did like blondes."

Ann couldn't pinpoint exactly what part had her the most mortified and flustered, but Shiho laughed at her expression, just like she had over Ryuji's.

~

By the time they'd gotten to Shujin, the three of them didn't have homeroom together anymore. No amount of distance could keep Ann from Shiho, and sports meet-ups gave Shiho and Ryuji enough reasons to cross paths, but Ann and Ryuji just didn't have a real excuse to speak anymore. 

In middle school, it had been so easy to find excuses to banter with one another in class until Shiho would break them up like the mom-friend she was born to be; fixing Ann with a look until she apologized, Ryuji until he piped down. They had a dynamic that worked, and it was comfortable and easy, and even if Shiho was the only one who would admit it out loud, it was fun. Ann and Ryuji had fun being friends.

It was always the stupidest things that make people grow apart quickly. 

Puberty had hit Ann like a whirlwind the summer before starting high school and her parents hadn't missed the opportunity to get her a job. Being gawked at and whispered about because of her looks wasn't new anymore, but the edge it had taken since she'd turned 15 was stifling. It made her feel pathetic for months, wishing she still had Shiho and Ryuji there in her classes to growl away all of the eyes trained on her.

When she did pass Ryuji in the halls, he would sometimes act like he couldn't see her at all. For some reason, that bothered her more than the looks that lingered too long.

 

Ann only really knew three things about Ryuji, now that they were in high school. The first was that he still bleached his hair, even though the administration at Shujin hated it even more than they had in middle school. She had no clue why he kept it up. The second is that his dad had finally up and left. Ryuji sometimes picked up shifts at 777 to help his mom out, even if it only helped him cover his train fare and lunches. The third was that he was the best sprinter of the track team; no one in his age bracket could match his times. 

If Ann wanted to really reach for it, she could say she knew a fourth thing without as much of the context: Ryuji was a problem student. 

He had earned his reputation as soon as Shujin’s brightest star began subbing for track; Kamoshida didn’t take insubordination lightly, and no one had ever taught Ryuji when to pick his battles. The school board as a whole had a tendency to treat Kamoshida’s word as law, so Ryuji’s grave had most likely been dug with his first misplaced scowl. Ann didn’t know what the two disagreed on so passionately, she hadn’t met the coach to know him personally. All she knew was that his volleyball team had fantastic results, and that Shiho was working hard to get on for the next year. 

When Ann thought about the Ryuji she'd known, it wasn't impossible to see him like that, biting and insolent, but he’d always kept the clearest head when he was running, cared too much about track to jeopardize his standing. 

Shiho, when talking about Ryuji, would sometimes get a faraway look in her eyes, like she could see something that Ann couldn't. She'd smile, and it would look sad, and she'd say, "He's not bad. He just still hates bullies." 

~

She’d heard the rumors, Shujin students hadn’t ever been subtle. They were severe, and kind of scary, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe them. She knew how easily someone could take an anthill of a rumor and make it into a mountain, she’d been on the wrong end of it before. Beyond that, Akira Kurusu didn’t really seem capable of any of it. He’d immediately struck her as so inherently non-threatening, with his lost doe-eyes and nerdy glasses. 

When Ann had caught Akira staring at her on the morning of his first day at Shujin, it felt different than what she’d gotten used to from Shujin boys. When she really looked at his expression, it had reminded her of the day she’d met Shiho. 

 

Her family had just moved back to Japan, and Ann was changing schools for the fourth time in as many years. Being a transfer student was always horribly  _othering_ , but it was shocking how little she could blend in with kids in Japan considering she’d been _born_ in Japan. She’d spent her first day with her head down, being stared at always made her skin feel too tight. Everyone around her spoke Japanese so much faster than she was used to, from when her father spoke it to keep it in her memory. Her head had felt like it was spinning, left alone to navigate this new school. 

Ann had eaten her lunch alone away from the classroom, not ready to be in the center of so many stares while she picked at the rice and fish she’d been ordered to finish. Ultimately, she’d deemed it a mistake on her part, because at the end of her free period she’d misjudged the way back to her class. She wound up staring uselessly at a bulletin board near the school entrance, nearly panicking, when Shiho had found her. 

Shiho had stopped beside her, too quiet for Ann to notice her immediately, and had taken the time to watch Ann with an open, harmless curiosity. When Ann finally looked to Shiho, they’d both startled. 

“I’m sorry,” Shiho blurted immediately, registering the fear on Ann’s face. When Ann didn’t move or reply, Shiho had let herself say whatever came to her first, “Wow, you have pretty eyes.” 

Ann was still looking at Shiho as though she had two heads, but she managed a stiff, “Thanks.” 

Shiho looked to the bulletin board Ann had been absorbed in, and considered the school map tacked in the center. “You’re new here, right? Are you lost?” 

Ann had swallowed hard before nodding once. 

“You’re in 1-B, yeah?” 

“Um,” Ann blinked. “Yeah.” 

Smiling easily, Shiho pointed down the hallway to her left. “Me too. I’ll walk you there?” 

 

When Ann met Akira’s eye under the rain shelter, he looked at her just like Shiho had, all the quiet curiosity without any edge. When Kamoshida’s car pulled away, Ann wondered if she should have walked with him. He looked lonely.

~

With Akira, the dynamic shifted again. She knew they met up for the sake of pursuing Palaces, but occupational hazard didn't make them behave any less like the teenagers they were.  

With a new-found excuse to hang out, Ann and Ryuji managed to find the easy banter they'd lost. It was like Akira was a link, fixing the break in the chain distance had made. He watched them bicker and swipe at each other with a familiar, patient fondness, placating them both like only a real mom-friend could. It felt fantastic, natural. 

“Sorry, Princess!” Ryuji rolled his eyes, shaking a soda bottle at her. Ann snatched the bottle away from him before he could turn it into a carbonated bomb. “I can’t keep up with all of your weird diets! I just bought what you used to drink all the time!” 

Ann frowned and looked at the bottle label. He was right, she did used to drink a cream soda every day when they were younger. She’s surprised he remembered. “What _ever_. It’s fine, I _guess_.” 

Akira smiled at her briefly, and then at Ryuji as though he were witnessing something very sweet. 

Akira was extremely protective and defensive of Ryuji in a way Ann doesn't think anyone's ever bothered to be. Akira was genuinely dedicated to maintaining his honest and kind profile at school, but he bristled so visibly whenever a teacher tried to advise him against Ryuji's company, his eyes darkened at the tone former track members took with him. It was the closest Ann had ever seen to him being the scary, dangerous boy from those exaggerated rumors. 

“I don’t know for sure what you like yet,” Ryuji said to Akira, holding a can out to him. “Something about you screams coffee, though. Hope that’s fine.” 

Akira took the can from him with a pleased smile and a slight flush. 

Ann thinks it's a by-product of how they met. From how they explained it to her, Akira had awoken to his Persona to save Ryuji's life, and in turn, Ryuji looked to Akira as the pinnacle of what a good person could be, criminal record be damned. Akira had come to Shujin with the cards rigged against him, and to find someone who wanted to know him as a friend and stand up for him anyway was probably a blessing he didn't take for granted. 

It made Ann miss Shiho's fierce support with an intensity. But sometimes Akira would turn that smile on her, one she had thought he reserved for Ryuji, and she knew better than to keep pretending that she was still alone. 

 

As soon as Ann got news that Shiho had woken up from her coma, Ryuji asked to go with her to visit. Ann realized, with a terribly sour taste in her mouth, that this would be the first time they'd all be together in over a year. Some reunion. 

Shiho was only barely awake when they got to her hospital room. Her hair wasn’t brushed and it stuck to her face, sweaty from the exertion of coping with the pain. She was mostly covered by a blanket, and from the state Ann had seen Shiho’s legs in the last time she visited, it was probably for the best. 

"Hey, Spike. You look fantastic," Ryuji greeted Shiho warmly. 

A swell of protective anger went through Ann over Ryuji's light sarcasm, but before it could bubble into anything tangible, she saw Shiho smile, so weak but happy. 

"Hey, Fleet-foot," Shiho's voice was so soft that it was almost a whisper. "If anybody had told me Shujin's two hot blondes were coming to see me, I would have at least done my makeup." 

Ryuji grinned, and Ann smiled despite herself. She sat on the edge of the bed and gently brushed Shiho’s hair out of her eyes. "Did you hear?" Ann leaned close. "He's... he's finally been arrested. He's in jail." 

Shiho registered the news slowly before the tears came. Neither Ann or Ryuji tried to coax her not to cry it out of her system. If anyone deserved to cry, it was Shiho. 

After Shiho settled, she weakly beckoned Ryuji closer with the hand that wasn't tightly clasped in Ann's hold. "Hey," she managed, voice thick and wet. "You'll still look after her for me? You'll protect her after I move?" 

Ryuji knelt down close enough for Shiho to get a light grip on his shirt. In a different situation, it could have looked like an intimidating shovel talk. "I've always been too slow when it mattered most, huh?" he said quietly. "But yeah. I'll be there, promise." 

Shiho smiled again and released his shirt. Ann rubbed her wrist to her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. 

~

Akira listened to her talk about Shiho with the same kind of riveted attention someone would give to a discussion on one of the top wonders of the world. Ann agreed with the sentiment, and appreciated his enthusiasm.

"You know," she told Akira at the diner one afternoon. "Shiho was my first girl crush. I realized it after she made a joke about liking blondes, and I couldn't sleep for days because I couldn't stop thinking about it." 

Akira smiled, appropriately amused and clearly encouraging her to continue. 

She took a sip of her tea. "I ended up freaking out about it to Ryuji, of all people. We weren't even close," Ann shook her head. "But when I calmed down from baby's-big-gay-awakening, he just told me not to worry about it, because Shiho's a great girl." 

Akira nodded. "He wasn't wrong." 

"He wasn't wrong!" She repeated. "But, god. Once I realized it was a crush, I couldn't  _not_  think about it whenever she was around me! Which was always!" Ann felt deeply for her middle school self, already navigating through being ostracized without needing to add being in love with another girl to her issues. 

Akira was still smiling, sympathizing like she knew he would. "You kind of say that like you don't still have a crush on Suzui-san." 

"I don't have a crush on her!" Ann huffed. "I'm madly in love with her. It's different." 

Akira nodded again, very understanding. Warmly, Ann thought she could probably talk to him for hours.

 

Learning that Akira and Shiho got along well was probably one of the best things to ever happen to Ann, but was decidedly very dangerous for her heart. 

Ann had left them on the school roof while she fetched drinks. She'd probably cried herself into dehydration over Shiho preparing to move all the way to Inaba, so far away from her, that afternoon. 

When she'd returned, they were sitting close together, as though they needed to be secretive even with no one around. 

"She's like human  _sunshine_ ," she could hear Akira say fervently.

Shiho had grasped his arm in a fit of passion, so equally enthused with a brightness Ann hadn't seen her show anyone else in ages. "I  _know_! She's so..." 

Ann's approaching footsteps caught their attention before she could make any sense of their conversation. They'd turned to her with matching expressions (guilt or embarrassment?) before smiling at her with such an overwhelming fondness that Ann could feel her heart flip in her chest. 

If she wasn't distracted by the funny warm feeling it had struck her with, she might have had the mind to be suspicious. 

~ 

"Ann-chan," Haru began from her bar chair at Leblanc. Now that Akira and Shiho were both finally back in Tokyo with high school complications finished and behind them, gathering at the cafe had felt beyond natural. "The other day you used a word I'm not familiar with to describe Ryuji-kun. I wanted to ask you what it meant." 

Ann made direct eye contact with Ryuji, keeping her expression blank. "Oh, you mean when I called him a twunk?" 

"WHAT?" Ryuji yelled, while Akira choked on his coffee. 

"A twunk is like a twink but with—" 

"Ann, what the fuck!" Ryuji pounded the booth table and Akira doubled over. 

"— the body of a hunk." 

Haru nodded, seemingly understanding. Shiho buried her face in her hands. 

Ryuji clambered out of the booth to his feet. "I don't have to take this from some _lesbian stereotype_ —" 

"What the hell does that—" 

Ryuji looked pointedly at the red flannel over-shirt tied securely around Ann's waist. She gasped, affronted. 

Haru looked delighted, as if she were innocent in this, and Akira practically wheezed, not being given any chance to recover. Shiho was vibrating in place, trying to hold back laughter. 

Ann had never felt like she belonged somewhere so intensely.

**Author's Note:**

> i've been writing this from bits and pieces cut from each polyfic i've posted, and it's finally out of my system... shiho/ann/ryuji/akira is a dynamic i would write 100 fics on if i could.
> 
> talk to me on twitter ([@yyormgen](https://twitter.com/yyormgen)) or check my other work on tumblr ([@tolbyccia](http://tolbyccia.tumblr.com/))


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